Hand-held electric sanders are well known. Many such sanders are designed to carry rectangular sandpaper sheets. Although such sanders have been very popular, they have not always enabled a user to sand in tight corners, for example. Hence, sanders have been designed to accommodate triangular sheets of sandpaper or sheets of sandpaper having a shape similar to an iron base. Both of these shapes enable the use of a sander to reach into tight corners of a workpiece to achieve complete sanding of the workpiece. By providing a sandpaper sheet which is triangular, the sheet is effectively provided with three different tips. Hence, since it is usually the tip of a sandpaper sheet which wears out first, a triangular sandpaper sheet can be made to last up to three times as long as a sheet with only one tip simply by removing the sheet from the base of the sander, rotating the sheet through 120 degrees and replacing the sheet on the sander base. This can, of course, be done twice before the three tips of a sandpaper sheet are worn out.
In contrast to a triangular sandpaper sheet, the iron-shaped sandpaper sheet has only one tip for use in tight corners of a workpiece. The sheet does, however, have a great surface area than a triangular sheet which can be useful when a significant amount of plain sanding is also required. Further, the rounded edges of the iron-shaped sheet in the regions approaching the tip of the sheet enable the sander to work up close to a surface perpendicular to the working surface being sanded by the sander, by virtue of the sander “rolling” along the perpendicular surface. Thus, there are advantages to using an iron-shaped sandpaper sheet as opposed to triangular sandpaper sheets.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,045,887 assigned to the assignee of the present invention and herein incorporated by reference, discloses an iron-shaped sanding sheet which is provided with a tip portion that can be separated from the body portion, turned through an angle and repositioned adjacent the body portion to change the working point of the tip portion. By virtue of the removable tip portion, a complete sanding sheet having an iron shape, for example, can be manufactured from a single sheet, and yet the sheet can still have more than one working point to enable the sheet to last longer, during use.
Because there are multiple commercially available sanders having platents with different configurations, different sized replacement sandpaper sheets have been needed for each of the different commercially available sanders with differently configured platents.
In view of the foregoing, the present invention provides a universal abrasive sheet that can be utilized with different commercially available sanders having platents with different configurations. Specifically, the present invention provides a universal abrasive sheet including a sheet material being provided with a first configuration adapted to be used with a first platent configuration and having first segments defining areas of weakened material, wherein the sheet material is adapted to be separated along the first segments to change a configuration of the sheet material to correspond with a second differently configured platen. The sheet material also includes second segments defining regions of weakened material, wherein the sheet material is adapted to be separated along the second segments to change a configuration of the body portion to correspond with a third differently configured platent.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the sheet material includes a body portion and a tip portion, the body portion and tip portion having varying configurations defined by segments defining regions of weakened material wherein the sheet material is adapted to be separated along predetermined segments to separate a first tip portion, having a first tip configuration, from a first body portion having a first body configuration and the sheet material is adapted to be selectively separated along alternative segments to separate a second tip portion, having a second tip configuration different from the first tip configuration, from a second body portion having a second body configuration different from the first body configuration.
According to the principles of the present invention, the first and second tip configurations can have different sizes or different shapes, or both. The regions of weakened material are defined by a line of perforations or alternatively, a score line may be drawn on the sheet during manufacture to define the weakened regions. Other ways of producing a weakened region may, of course, alternatively be used.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the sheet material is further provided with at least one replacement tip portion extending from either of the body or tip portions and is defined by a segment defining regions of weakened material so that the replacement tip portion can be separated from the sheet material and used as a replacement tip portion when the original tip portion wears out.
Further areas of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description provided hereinafter. It should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating the preferred embodiment of the invention, are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.